Common Foods
Many vegetarians and vegans sometimes find it difficult to find foods to eat at their local grocery store that aren't labeled already "vegetarian." Or perhaps they don't feel like reading all the ingredients on a label to see if it contains some hidden ingredients within it. The following list will be very helpful for you when you go grocery shopping. This list has only some of the possible vegan and vegetarian foods you may eat in the grocery store. Also, a link to Peta is included that has an even bigger list.
Hidden Ingredients
Hidden ingredients are ingredients whose name somewhat hides the fact that it comes from an animal source. If the company were to put "This product contains ingredients from an animal." a vegetarian or vegan would be less likely buy it, so they use complex, and usually unknown names for their ingredients. The list below contains some of the most common hidden ingredients and what they are for vegetarians and vegans. The following websites contain more hidden ingredients, too.
Meba | VeggieGlobal | Vegan Peace Home
Top 10 Hidden Non-Vegetarian Ingredients
- Gelatin:Tissues from cows and pigs. Found in Jell-O, marshmellows, some hard/chewy candies, and a lot of other foods.
- Mono- and diglycerides:Comes from animals and plant sources, you will have to clarify which on your own. It is found in a lot of baked goods, ice cream, and other products. Sometimes, it's also labeled as glyceryl monostearate and glyceryl disterate.
- Rennet:Enzymes found in a cow's fourth stomach. It's most common in cheeses, and sometimes labeled as enzymes.
- Enzymes:These can come from animal sources or other ones approved by the FDA. They are most common in cheeses.
- Carmine:A red dye made from cochineal beetles. Also labeled as Cochineal and Carminic Acid.
- Glycerin:Usually animal based, and found in a lot
of soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and some foods. Can be seen as
glycerol.
- Most glyc- ingredients can be taken from an animal. If the ingredient starts with that prefix you may want to further investigate the product to make sure it doesn't come from an animal.
- Sodium Stearol Lactylate:Made from animal flesh, milk, or possibly plant sources. The stearol makes it non-vegetarian, and can also be labeled stearic.
- Stearic Acid:Can come from animal or plant sources.
- L-Cysteine:This can come from duck feahers, human hair, and pigs' bristles and hooves. It is labeled as cystine and cysteine, too.
- Isinglass:This is a glycerin ingredient obtained from fish.
Top 10 Hidden Non-Vegan Ingredients
- Casein:A milk protein
- Cashmere:Wool taken from goats
- Collagen:Usually from cows and chickens and is made of bones, cartilage, and skin.
- Lactose:A sugar produced from milk.
- Lanolin:Fat taken from sheep wool
- Silk:Fiber produced from silk worms that when harvested it kills the worm.
- Sugar:Some cane sugars are ground with boneblack or bone char, which comes from cow bones.
- Vitamin D2 and D3:Can be taken from animal resources, such as fat, lanolin, milk, egg yolk, and fish liver oil, but it may also come from plants or synthetically made.
- Whey:A milk residue left after the fat and casein have been removed.
- Wool:Hairs removed from a sheep and similar animals.